Devastating fire sparked by 5-year-old

A 5-year-old boy playing with a lighter sparked a fire Saturday afternoon that consumed his South Peoria home.

JOE CRAWFORD

A 5-year-old boy playing with a lighter sparked a fire Saturday afternoon that consumed his South Peoria home.

Chandra Pilkington, 26, who lived with her four children in the house at 2620 W. Malone St., said her son was in a first-floor bedroom with three of his siblings when he lit a hat on fire, igniting a blaze that soon spread throughout the room.

"I just went upstairs to get myself ready for work," Pilkington said with tears in her eyes as she stood outside the destroyed residence.

The fire quickly spread through the structure, and Peoria Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Ogburn said the front of the residence was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. The house would be a total loss, Ogburn said, and he estimated the damage to be $50,000.

None of the house's occupants, including Pilkington's sister-in-law and her infant child, were harmed. Ogburn said one firefighter suffered heat exhaustion while combating the flames, and he was taken to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center.

Ogburn said the injuries were minor, but he declined to give the firefighter's name pending notification of family.

Pilkington said she initially attempted to use two fire extinguishers to put out the blaze while her sister-in-law called 911. But both extinguishers malfunctioned, and a bucket of water was not enough to contain the blaze, she said.

"It was just a little fire, and I thought I could put it out," she said.

None of the smoke detectors in the home went off while she was inside the burning home, she said.

Pilkington said she owned the house but recently had to cancel the insurance on it. She wasn't sure where she and her four children would stay Saturday night. The house and its contents were all she owned, she said.